Briehn Wildman is senior interior designer and project manager at Jacksonville-based RS&H.
Some of her notable area projects include the VyStar Credit Union offices at VyStar Tower Downtown, JEA’s headquarters, several Florida State College at Jacksonville campuses including Deerwood Center and the Culinary Institute Downtown,
The Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach and Jacksonville Golf & Country Club. She has been with RS&H since 2006.
I’m a problem solver.
I meet with clients and I try to help both the architect and the client figure out how to make the best use of space and tell people’s brand story and image.
Every space should look like a reflection of the person or the people that occupy it.
I’m a Tetris master and I enjoy the puzzle part of trying to fit the program needs creatively into the footprint that we are given.
I love telling the story of a business and helping a business operate better and their people operate better while they’re at work.
I love surprising and wowing people, without going over the budget.
I told my father I wanted to be in advertising.
He thought a marketing degree would help me be more well-rounded and to get a business degree.
I went to Boston University for business school and did a dual concentration in finance and marketing.
I absolutely loved marketing. The four P’s of marketing — product, place, price and promotion. I wanted to help businesses tell their story in space.
Target looks different from Walmart, for example. Starbucks and Dunkin’ both sell coffee, but from the packaging to the ambiance to the product, the experience is different.
I moved back to Jacksonville to live with my father and take care of my grandfather.
My younger brother was home. As I was helping him flip through the FSCJ catalog, I saw some interior design classes.
I was able to do their two-year program in a year and a half because I had already done a four-year degree.
I’ve had the opportunity to work on several of the FSCJ campuses, which was very fulfilling having learned the trade there.
I grew up in Salt Lake City and moved here when I was 16.
My father still lives in that home and I live five blocks away.
I moved away and loved living in Boston, but as I’ve gotten older, there’s something to be said about having family close by.
I’m single. I have a brother in Nocatee and a sister in Gainesville and I am the favorite aunt to seven nieces and nephews.
My job is fun.
I know it sounds nerdy but I really love what I do. I love going and seeing other projects.
There are a lot of really great designers and architects in town.
I love going on building tours. I love shopping for local art, collecting local art, and it’s interesting to live in the same town and know the people that painted them.
I am an amateur painter. I love playing pool and poker but I don’t get to play either one frequently enough to be the shark that I really want to be.
I read a ton.
I read trade magazines and design magazines.
One of my guilty pleasures probably is crime murder novels.
When I’m not reading something that’s educational then I’m reading whodunits.
My favorite part of the job is the “people-ing.”
I love connecting with friends and meeting new people, too.
Connecting, human interaction is my favorite thing.
That’s why the pandemic work-from-home does not work for me.
